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June 30, 2007

Every product needs a market, especially a tightly defined market niche. As a copywriter, I understand this... and yet I've never totally applied it to my own business.

Not that I don't have a market niche; I do. It's that I haven't whittled that niche down into a lean target market.

I was reminded of this oversight when I came across a Valpak ad for Chedd's--a restaurant that sells only gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. Over 35+ types of Wisconsin cheese and 12 types of bread.

They specialize not in burgers or breakfast food or pizza... but grilled cheese!

Obviously, I have no idea how the restaurant is doing financially. But they've got two locations in Denver, have won 10 different awards, and are in the process of developing the restaurant into a franchise because of demand.

So it sounds to me like picking a tight niche like "grilled cheese" has paid off well for Chedd's. Something to think about...

June 23, 2007

I watched Stranger Than Fiction this week. I highly recommend it, especially for writers.

The movie follows the life of Harold Crick (Will Ferrell), the main character in a new book written by Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson).

There are many literary allusions, and the dialog is quite clever. I enjoyed the movie so much, I watched it a second time with my brother and his girlfriend.

Here's a quote from the movie I thought you might appreciate. When asked how she came up with the ending of her story, Karen Eiffel says: "Like anything worth writing, it came inexplicably and without method."

June 21, 2007

For instance, you don't sell Florida vacations by talking about the humidity. You don't sell white sand beaches by talking about the taste of sea water in your mouth when you go swimming. And you don't sell amusement parks by talking about the long lines.

These details are left out... most of the time.

Of course, there's the "damaging admission"--where you confess a flaw about your product to build trust with your prospect. Most of the time, these admissions don't address any real problem with the product or service being sold. The admission is a decoy... a straw man.

Sometimes damaging admissions are genuine. When they are, prospects respond.

One reason John E. Powers was so successful was his unusual candor. He lived from 1837-1919 and wrote many ads for the Wanamaker's department store in Pittsburgh.

Powers' ads were often so brutally honest that his employer objected to running them. Anyway, at one point, Wanamaker's needed a huge sum of money to avoid closing the store. Powers wrote this:

"We are bankrupt. We owe $125,000 more than we can
pay, and this announcement will bring our creditors down on our necks.
But if you come and *buy* tomorrow, we shall have the money to meet
them. If not, we shall go to the wall."

People flooded the store, bought arm loads of merchandise, and saved the business.

In a separate ad for a different merchant, Powers wrote:

"We have a lot of rotten gossamers and things we want to get rid of."

This sold out the entire inventory of gossamers within hours.

So, yes, copywriting is largely a job of omission, but not always. What would an average copywriter omit... that a world-class copywriter would not? How can you use a damaging admission to make your copy irresistibly persuasive?

I happened to catch the infomercial for the Banjo Fishing Lure last fall. I watched the whole thing. I almost got my credit card out to purchase the system... and I'm not even a fisherman! That's how good the pitch is.

Imagine seeing underwater camera shots of large fish chomping down on the Banjo. Not just one fish. You see fish after fish after fish... in different rivers... lakes... streams... all striking the lure with unbridled aggression.

I had to keep watching the infomercial if for no other reason than the live-action footage. It's interesting and compelling.

Recently, I had three regular readers put together what they believed to be the "Top 12" best posts I had ever published on this blog. I reviewed their lists, combined them, and added a couple favorites of my own to create what I'm calling "The Best of Ryan Healy, Part 1."

Why "Part 1?" Because I expect a "Part 2" in another year or so.

By the way, I'm going on vacation tomorrow, so you won't hear from me again until the end of June. I won't be posting to this blog or replying to comments or publishing any Trackbacks... because... I'm leaving my laptop at home.

I encourage you to use this "down time" to read through these "best of" posts. Some of them go back to 2005! Enjoy.

June 13, 2007

This week I've been doing some major paper purging. I have discovered all kinds of notes, poems, cards, etc... but... mostly junk. Here is something worth sharing:

"In an age of widespread equality, the masses, desiring security above all else, will gladly accept despotism in order to gain release from the burden of responsibility that freedom imposes on people." --Fyodor Dostoevsky

Written over 100 years ago. Yet it still reminds me of the American people who demand security from the government in exchange for personal liberty. Not to mention those timid souls who choose the "security" of employment over the "freedom" of freelancing.

June 07, 2007

I have a few dozen ebooks and special reports on my computer that I've never read. Some I've purchased; some were free. Nevertheless, it's content I've wanted to consume, but never have.

Part of the problem is, I don't like to read lengthy documents on my computer screen. Two hundred pages of scrolling through a PDF is exhausting.

So here's what I did: I called my local FedEx Kinko's to see if they could help.

They pointed me to a page on their web site where I can upload print on-demand jobs. I spent a few minutes uploading the PDF files and specifying how I wanted the files printed, then placed my order. Simple as that.

In less than 24 hours from now, I'll drive a mile and half down the road to pick up the hard copies, which I am confident I will now read.

Most of the time, the urge to be clever is a short-cut to avoid doing
the work of creating an enticing promise that will prepare the reader
to take the action you are looking for. Resist the temptation; a
straightforward headline almost always works better than a clever one.